I was recently introduced to a lovely little poet pigeon. He flew onto my iPad screen, bringing news of a fun way for kids aged 3-6 to learn to read and discover. After my download, I was immediately taken by the thoughtful layout and beautiful graphics. My son snapped a picture of himself (then him one of I) and we put fun illustrative hats on to set up our profiles. Then we set out on our journey.

Since we both have fun working on letter combinations and sounds to teach him how to read, I thought the abc hills would be a great place to start. We visited level one and learned about the letter “a”. The first thing that made me say “wow, this is cool” was the record feature. After seeing a word with the letter “a” and watching a little boy make the “a” sound, we could then record our own voices saying “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”. Genius! The playback had my little guy perfecting his tone and trying it over and over again under the muse this was merely a game. Little did he know he was learning too. Not only were the words present, but there was corresponding vocalization, experimentation and reinforcement throughout the 10 step level (and subsequent modules).

Upon completion, Homer the pigeon invited us to draw or record, activities which can also be found from the main screen at “Homer’s Clubhouse”.

Back at the map, head over to “Discover the World” to explore animals, senses, sounds, etc. or if you care to catch a story (which your child can read themselves or have the app read it to them) go down to “Story Time”. We’ve been having fun with them all.

While many apps are one-trick-ponies, Learn with Homer has so much content your child will stay engaged. Best yet, they are learning so it is a win-win for parent and child alike.

Learn with Homer was created by Stephanie Dua, a well-known education reformer, who created the app based on best teaching practices and aligned with the new tough standards of the Common Core. Inspired by her daughter she took to work, creating this beautiful app.

Learn with Homer just hit the app store on August 1st and is free to download here. But, guess what? As a special treat for Hip & Healthy Kids readers, you can be entered to win any product on the Learn with Homer Society Shop (up to $25). Enter this Rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win. Contest will be open for one week.